If you are having tingling pain in your back or shoulder, chances are that it is a muscle knot. The bad news is, muscle knots do not go away easily even if you apply pressure on them. Therapists have suggested a lot of ways to relax the muscle knots but before going on the ways, it is important to know what is a muscle knot.
What Is A Muscle Knot?
Muscle knots are basically some sort of bubbles that are caused mainly by myofascial pain. You can experience myofascial pain when there’s stiffness or soreness in your triggered points or areas of the body such as shoulders, hips, back and etc.
When myofascial pain does not go away, the situations worsen and form muscle knots. You can feel muscle knots as bumps in your body.
There are no scientific reasons why these muscle knots are caused but mainly, they are due to sprained or strained muscles due to repetitive exercise or activity. They mostly occur on hips, back, shoulders and thighs.
More About the Muscle Knots
One scientific thought regarding muscle knots is that the muscle fibers in your body shrink or contract due to extra calcium in that particular area. Hence, causing myofascial pain and consequently, muscle knots.
The inflammation in that area causes swelling, stiffness, soreness, and pain when you put pressure on the triggered areas.
The muscle fibers might not be actually in knots with each other but the pain would make you feel as if the fibers are in knots. Muscle knots cannot be felt easily by hand but they are very visible in the ultrasound images.
What Causes Muscle Knots?
Although muscle knots are harmless, they can be very painful and most times cause a restriction in our movements. They are caused by various reasons such as:
Poor diet.
Extensive exercise.
Sleep deprivation.
Dehydration.
Sedentary lifestyle.
Untying the Muscle Knots with Remedial Massage
Trigger point massage or remedial massage is the best way to untie the muscle knots. Keep moving further to see how remedial massage works.
How Trigger Point Massage/Remedial Massage Works?
This type of massage focuses more on pressurizing deep layers of muscles so that the muscle knots can be untied at the triggered points. It can also be done by sports massage but trigger point massage is more effective. As the pressure is applied to the triggered area, the knots untie and begin to loosen.
Apart from encouraging the patients to take regular massage sessions, they are also told to exercise regularly and to maintain a healthy diet. This does not only mitigate the risks of having muscle knots again but also benefits the overall physical health of the patient.
How Does Trigger Point Massage Feel Like?
As said earlier, this massage targets deep layers of muscles so a patient could feel discomfort for a few days after the massage. Only a professional therapist could know the right amount of pressure that needs to be applied to the triggered areas of the fascia.
This solution does not relieve pain overnight. Instead, you would have to take multiple sessions and wait for optimal results.
